Lots of pictures from my recent press trip to Mansfield and some info on how the arrival of a Hollywood production crew affects life in a central-Ohio town.

Then read below at A Traveler’s Library to see my review of the movie.

Have you ever lived in a town where a movie was made? What was it like?

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Destination: Jordan

Movie: Captain Abu Raed (2009) written and directed by Amin Matalqa

A Guest Post by Jane Boursaw

You know a movie is good when you’re still thinking about it years later. Such is the case with Captain Abu Raed, a touching, uplifting film I saw at the Traverse City Film Festival in 2008.

The first independent film to come out of Jordan and the country’s first feature of any kind in the last 50 years, Captain Abu Raed tells the story of a loveable but lonely old janitor who finds an airplane captain’s hat in the trash, which convinces the kids in his neighborhood that he’s been around the world.

Captain Abu Raed talks to kids

Abu obliges the kids, telling stories of far-off lands he’s never seen, hoping to expand the minds and improve the lives of the poor children who are starting life much like he did.

Captain Abu Raed won the Audience Award in the World Cinema Competition at Sundance, and scored another 14 wins and 3 nominations. It had a limited release in U.S. theaters on Aug. 14, 2009, and is now available on Amazon.com.

I talked with writer/director Amin Matalqa in 2008, shortly after he arrived in Traverse City. Read on for his thoughts on filming in Jordan, celebrating unsung heroes, and breaking down the walls of social class.

Jane: I watched a screener of Captain Abu Raed last night. It’s such a beautiful film, such a quiet, powerful story about the choices ordinary people can make to bring about change. Was that a central theme when you were making it?

Writer/Director Amin Matalqa

Amin: Absolutely. I’ve always been interested in the person we pass by and ignore, and we don’t know how much is below the surface. The script I just wrote is about a man who plays the cello in the streets. People pass by and don’t even notice him, but then you find out what a rich life he had. So, I’m always interested in the unsung heroes.

Jane: It seems like the people in this film are living these quiet lives of desperation, especially Abu and Nour, but they come together to do some good for others — the children and their mother.

Amin: He’s different from the world he lives in, and she’s different from the world she lives in. So they connect, and by them connecting, they help the kids at the end of the film. Social class differences are something you see very clearly in places like Jordan and other developing countries. The rich are rich and the poor are poor and the middle class is fading. So I wanted to suggest that people can connect across these social classes.

Jane: What you see on the surface may be something totally different than what’s really there.

Amin: Absolutely. Likewise, the pilot, Nour, is in this social class, and finally one day connects and sheds the wardrobe, metaphorically speaking. On the roof, neither of them is dressed as the janitor or the pilot. They’re dressed in normal clothes, and so they’re humans to each other. It’s funny how we’re all defined by what we do for a living. The first thing you ask someone is, what job do you have? You’re put in a category so quickly … janitor: nobody; pilot: somebody.

Captain Abu Raed

Jane: I love Abu, because he’s sort of been hiding from his own life. Then when he connects with the children, he has a purpose and doesn’t back down from what he knows is the right thing to do. When he’s in the guy’s kitchen waiting for him to come home, you know what’s going to happen, but Abu is ready for it. It’s like he’s giving himself up to save the family. Am I off base on that?

Amin: No you’re not. In my opinion, Abu is an optimist and he tells the man, let me help you.

Jane: Right. Even then, after everything that’s happened, he wasn’t going to give up on the abusive father.

Amin: So much of it is embedded in the mythology of the hero’s journey. Here is this guy who lives on his own and then has this call to adventure, which is the introduction of the kids in his life. First, he decides he doesn’t like it and denies the violence outside. He shuts his window, but then realizes he has to take responsibility. So he starts helping Tareq and intervening with Murad and connecting with them beyond the stories.

Jane: Talk a little about Nadim Sawalha, who plays Abu. It’s amazing to me that he’s been in the film business for 40-some years. He’s one of those actors who says so much without a whole lot of words.

Amin: Absolutely, he’s amazing. I talk to him every week, you know, like Tuesdays with Morrie? I need my Nadim time every week. I visited him in London after we were done filming, and he’s so full of wisdom, one of the most wonderful people I’ve ever known.

Jane: Is this the first independent film to come out of Jordan?

Amin: There was a Jordanian-financed movie in 1957. And in 1991, there was a French-financed film with a Syrian director. But this is really the first time we’ve had a Jordanian film — Jordanian cast and crew, Jordanian financing, Jordanian director, Jordanian stars. So, it’s not a government-funded film from France or somewhere else. It’s an independent film from Jordan.

Jane: It sounds like a really big deal. What’s the climate for filmmaking there?

Amin: In 2003, King Abdullah started the Royal Film Commission to encourage American and European films to shoot in Jordan, and also encourage local filmmakers to do short films, workshops, things like that. There’s already one film school in Jordan, and another one opening up. Last year, there were 10 movie shoots in Jordan, including ours.

Jane: The entire film seems like it’s bathed in golden light. Was that deliberate?

Amin: Yeah, I wanted to make a romantic film without being romantic. There’s this Jerusalem yellow stone, and I picked the neighborhood — in a city a half-hour out of Amman — because of the architecture, the brick roads, the arched windows, and most importantly, the yellow stone.

Jane: Is it getting a good reception in Jordan and that region?

Amin: Oh, yeah. It didn’t do as well in Dubai, because they actually prefer big Hollywood movies, which they do in Jordan, too. But, obviously, as a Jordanian film, it did tremendously well in Jordan, and it’s still the talk of the country.

Jane: Well, thanks so much for taking time to talk with me. I’ll for sure spread the word about the film.

Amin: Thanks so much, Jane. Take care.

Jane Boursaw, Reel Life With Jane

Jane Boursaw is a family entertainment writer specializing in movies, TV and celebrities. Syndicate her family movie and TV reviews in your publication; visit her at Reel Life With Jane; follow her on Twitter; become a friend on Facebook; email jboursaw@charter.net.

Images: Captain Abu Raed, Pen & Paper Films in Association with Gigapix Studios, a David Pritchard Production

When I asked Jane Boursaw if  she had any films to recommend for my  series on Middle Eastern countries, she told me about this film. I am so glad that she was willing to share this interview with us. Thanks Jane!

Although I did not get enough replies to my poll to draw firm conclusions about what country to go to next, I did have several people indicate they were ready to pack their bags and leave the Middle East for a while, so this will be the last of that series. We won’t forget about those countries–just not talk about them every week. Stay tuned.

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Movie: Jane Eyre (2011)

This movie came and went in the blink of an eye, and it did not even get to Tucson until a month after it had opened in more significant cities. If you missed it, I certainly hope that you will have the opportunity to see this latest Jane Eyre on DVD before too long. (This link takes you to a paperback edition on Amazon that has the most ill-fitting cover design I can imagine. You can pick up a Kindle version at the alluring price of $0.00. I recommend the one at the top of the list. And Nook fans can choose one for $.99)

Others have tried to make a movie from Charlotte Bronte’s brooding book about the tragic romance of Jane Eyre and Mr. Rochester, like Franco Zeffereli in 1996 and there’s a Masterpiece Theater version. But none, according to what I recall and what I’ve read, were able to make this story come to life without sounding false to more modern ears.

Besides the amazing windswept landscape captured in the movie, the director and cast pull off some small miracles. I was surprised that the language seemed true to the restrained formality of the novel, and yet never struck me as difficult to understand or worse, comically over-dramatic.

The standing  joke around our house is that the men never want to see anything that doesn’t have car chases, or at least copious amounts of blood being spilled. No car chases here, because except for those moments where we follow Jane’s escape from the orphanage and later from the manse of Mr. Rochester, hers is a claustrophobic world. Those interludes where we see the great grey stretches of sky and land coincide with the low points of her life and underscore sadness. On the other hand, when she is happy, we see her in brightly blooming gardens, or standing like an puzzle piece that does not quite fit in a house party. She wears her subdued colors while all around her seem to be glowing with color.

Perhaps this book translates to modern audiences because of the horror-lurking-somewhere atmosphere of the great stone pile where Jane tutors Mr. Rochester’s young half-French daughter. What are those strange sounds at night? Who starts a fire? Why does the young man turn up bleeding form his neck and have to be secreted out of the house before dawn?

Unquestionably Jane’s spirit and intelligence and independence resonates with us. And even better, to young women (of any age, in fact) , Mr. Rochester falls in love with her BECAUSE she is feisty and speaks her mind. A more modern couple, one could not expect.

But let’s get down to the final reason that women, particularly will like this movie. Yes, the handsome brooding Mr. Rochester is the stuff of daydreams, and the moors are lovely and alluring, but the HOUSES! In our McMansion world, these enormous stone buildings with their brocaded curtains, carriage entrances, acres of gardens and orchards and hidden passageways, and servants by the dozen–these super-sized houses should be called castles. Ahh, to be the mistress who plans the weekend in the country where all one’s friends flock down from London. And to do it all with the aid of a mistress of the house who oversees the multiplicity of helpers. Now There is a daydream!

Having read the story long ago, the details slowly built up a recognition–a memory– of what was terribly wrong inside the walls of Thornfield Manor. No spoiler here, though–you’ll have to read or go see the movie.

And when the urge to see those beautiful houses and that lovely landscape seizes you, England’s toruism folks are ready with a Bronte/Jane Eyre itinerary. And get your guide to Jane’s Yorkshire.

The Brontes did not publish as many novels as Jane Austen, and lack some of her charm, but nevertheless, Jane Eyre is well worth reading–and now also worth viewing. Have you seen any of the Jane Eyre movies? Your take on this form of literature?

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Frederick Sound, Alaska

Destination: Alaska

Movie: Insomnia (2002)

(Note: The photographs here were taken by Alan Hull, and supplied by the blog My Itchy Travel Feet. Although they reflect the beauty of Alaska, they are not from the same area as the film.)

Two kinds of people live in Alaska. Those who were born here. And those who are running away from something. I was not born here.Hotel Manager, to Pacino.

Watching the movie, Insomnia, on my DVD player, I remembered that it has now been eight years since Ken and I put Alaska on our MUST SEE list. I think of Alaska as the ultimate road trip.  I even have a copy of  The Milepost: Alaska Travel Planner, 61st Edition (2009)–that guidebook of all guidebooks that carries you mile-by-mile up the various highways from the lower 48.

But we still have not gone. Even though this movie inspired us to plan the road trip. From the title credits with jagged surface of glacier in the background, to the opening aerial shots as a small sea plane swoops in to land, the scenery is astounding.

LeConte Bay, Alaska

When we DO finally go, we will certainly take Kerry Dexter’s advice on what CDs to pop into the player. You can see Kerry’s Music for the Road recommendations at Music Road.

Now that I look more closely at the credits, I see that I must include British Columbia on the trip as well, (as The Milepost does)because although the aerial shots in the movie were Alaska, the town where the action took place was Squamish B.C. The lodge where visiting L.A. police officers (played by Al Pacino and Martin Donovan)  stayed, stands in Squamish, and the town’s high school and police headquarters (where Hilary Swank’s character worked)  were also used in the movie.

Wyndham Bay Alaska

In addition, the eerie fog-shrouded chase scene was filmed at an inlet called Indian Arm near Vancouver, and the final scene, which takes place in a fishing cottage on a lake was near the tiny town of  Stewart Glacier, B.C. on the Alaska/BC border.  If  the difficulties faced by movie makers interests you, read more about the filming of Insomnia and the challenges of working in these remote locations at the site, Celebrity Wonder. That last scene survived deep snow, fluctuating water levels, breaking glaciers, no hotel rooms and an avalanche!

Let me hasten to add that this film is not just a pretty travelogue for Alaska and British Columbia, luring you on a road trip up north. The morality play plot keeps you awake, along with Pacino, whose saggy-baggy face gets ever more saggy as he cannot sleep. Light of the Midnight Sun variety and light of the “exposure” variety keeps him awake night after night. Hilary Swank turns in a lovely performance as the eager beaver young copy star-struck by the big name L.A. detective. And Robin Williams totally surprised me with a serious and deeply meaningful role as a mystery writer who weaves a  real life tale as he jousts with the detective, Pacino.

My only minor complaint about the movie is that the focus on Pacino is done to excess. I could not believe that  the entire police department of the Alaska town, not to mention his “partner” from L.A. would be relegated to a crowd following him around as he comes to brilliant conclusions and barked orders.

Thomas Bay, Alaska

But it  was great to re-visit this movie after eight years, and renew my pledge to make a road trip to Alaska.

Many thanks to Donna and Alan Hull for sharing their beautiful photos. You can read a bit about their Alaska experiences here.

Can you share your experiences traveling in Alaska? What should we put at the top of our see/do list? And if you have not been to Alaska, but are planning to go, tell us about that, too.

Comments on today’s post (until 6 am MST Jan. 28) will be entered in the drawing the book, War on the Margins, and also for a two-night stay at a Cambria Suites of your choice. See contest rules

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Mt. Rainier, Visible from most of Seattle

Destination: The State of Washington

Movie: The Fabulous Baker Boys

(Find your road trip musical accompaniment at this article about the movie’s sound track, or read our partner on the road trip–Kerry Dexter’s recommendations for the American Northwest at Music Road)

A Guest Post by BETH WHITMAN

Quick – think of a movie filmed in Seattle, Washington. Likely the first flick you thought of was Sleepless in Seattle. After all, who isn’t enamored with this romantic comedy that shows all the best the Emerald City has to offer? (Seattleites, of course, have a thing or two to say about the authenticity of the sites featured – but that’s beside the point.)

Let’s tour my fair city through another movie that is mostly filmed in Seattle. It’s The Fabulous Baker Boys starring Jeff and Beau Bridges, and Michelle Pfeiffer.

Seattle Ferry

The plot centers around two washed-up piano playing siblings who take on a sultry singer to liven up their act. Predictably, she shakes up their world beyond their performances. They begin to make a comeback. Things fall apart. But, ultimately, everything works itself out (Hollywood ending and all.)

This film highlights a Seattle that you could possibly find: A world of jazz clubs and lounge lizards. After all, we do have Jazz Alley and there’s no shortage of singers behind the keyboard (stop in at any Nordstrom or high-end mall if you doubt me). It’s unlikely that any of them are as down and out as the Baker brothers, however.

Pike Place Market

Despite the movie’s sad undertone, it gives a lovely nod to downtown as it follows the characters on walks through Pioneer Square and areas near the Pike Place Market. It features beautiful sunsets, ferry rides and quiet streets. Though it lacks coffee and computer nerds, there’s  enough “Seattle” in this 20+ year-old movie that it could still entice people to move to the Pacific Northwest (especially if you believe you could find a Michelle Pfeiffer-like character singing Making Whoopie!).

The film was critically acclaimed when it was released in 1989. Michelle Pfeiffer was nominated for an Oscar for Best Actress in a Leading Role and it was also nominated for Best Cinematography, Best Film Editing and Best Music, Original Score.

Seattle Sunrise

We like to think of our city as award-winning, but along with the rest of the country, we’ve certainly struggled these last few years. Like The Fabulous Baker Boys, we’re hoping to make a comeback real soon…

Beth Whitman

Beth Whitman is founder and editor of  Wanderlust and Lipstick, a web site for women travelers. Beth is an expert on travel in India and SE Asia, and has published The Essential Guide for Women Traveling Solo, For Women Traveling to India and is the publisher of Traveling with Kids). She leads tours to several exotic destinations, and is one of the founders of Passports With Purpose.

Thank you Beth, for sharing your home town and state with the Traveler’s Library Great American Road Trip. Readers should know that Beth sent this post to me as–recently returned from attending the Nobel prize ceremonies–she winged off to yet another destination. Aren’t we lucky to have her contribution at A Traveler’s Library?

When you leave a comment here before 6:00 a.m. on Friday, Jan. 21, you will have a chance to win a book about an almost coast-to-coast road trip, The Leisure Seeker. AND you will have a chance (or another chance) to win a two-night stay at a Cambria Suites hotel, in a city of your choice. Hmmm….do they have a hotel in Washington state? You can find out by clicking on the down arrow beside “city” at the Cambria Suites site. Contest Rules

Stumped for a comment? How about suggestions for books to read about Oregon, California, Alaska and Hawaii? Or tell us what Cambria Suites hotel you want to stay in. Or tell us about your own favorite west coast destination.

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Destination: Colorado

Movie: Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969)

The Sound Track for this post:

Last week the road trip stopped in Utah, and this week we take up seamlessly where we left a plane crash in Northern Utah, as we watch Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, an oldie but still goodie.  The movie starts in Utah and then hops and skips to Colorado for the train sequences and back to Utah and back to Colorado (not to mention New Mexico and California) following the adventures of lovable bad guys played by Paul Newman and Robert Redford. The train is actually the Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge Railroad, and as a stop on your own road trip, you can ride on it–with no robberies along the way.

Durango and Silverton Narrow Gauge RR

Of course every reader of A Traveler’s Library has already seen the movie. Right? Well, I had not watched it for quite a few years, and I had actually forgotten how well the movie portrays the luscious western scenery.  If you can watch this movie and NOT want to travel (by road trip or on horseback, or train) to Colorado (and Utah and the West in general), perhaps you should schedule a neurological examination. There is something definitely wrong with your wiring!

One of the best things about  the west–you can watch a movie set in the 1890′s and today you can still see the same wide-open spaces and the same spectacular mountains and canyons, that these desperadoes rode across.

Even if the movie had no plot, a re-watch would be worth it to see the extended scene with Paul Newman riding around the ranch yard(sorry, that’s California) on a bicycle, sometimes with Katherine Ross on the handlebars, and the catchy tune Raindrops Keep Fallin’ On My Head in the background. (You’re singing it right now, aren’t you?)

And then there’s that unforgettable leap into the river from a cliff (in Colorado)–with better results than when Thelma and Louise drive over a Utah cliff in a later movie.

Jump!

According to Wikipedia, actors as diverse as Jack Lemmon and Marlon Brando were considered for roles, but these are the guys who made film history.

Redford and Newman as Butch and the Kid

Whew! Thank goodness it turned out to be the perfect film coupling–Paul Newman, as the nervous “thinker” who is smarter than the rest of the gang( but that’s nothing to brag about) and Robert Redford, the silent, moody and sometimes dense partner. Not only did it start Redford’s film career, but the pair went on to make several more movies together.

Sneffels Creek Canyon, Photo by Tom Harris, USFS

But mostly, I recommend looking at the film again so you can see that fantastic Western scenery. If you’ve never taken a road trip across Utah, Colorado, Wyoming and Montana, perhaps I need to explain that it really does look that spectacularly beautiful.

Pictures are from various sources, but the scenic canyon view is a Creative Commons picture from Flickr. Click on it to see the nice work of the photographer. And thanks, as usual to You Tube for always coming through with the right film clip.

AND THAT, MY FRIENDS, IS POST #500!

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Destination: Vienna, Austria

Move: (Classic) The Third Man ,1949

Vienna at night near the Opera House glowed bright and cheerful as Ken and I made our way from an Easter weekend concert of Strauss in the flower-decked Musikverein to the famous Sacher Hotel coffee house and their whipped-cream delights (everything in Vienna comes “mit schlag.”

Vienna Symphony Easter Concert at Musikverein

A different Vienna glowers at the viewer of the black and white movie, The Third Man. Shadows slice across empty squares and camera angles tilt everyone at suspicious angles. Suspicion. That’s the dominant theme of this classic film noir, written by Graham Greene and directed by Carol Reed.

Door to Harry Lime's Apartment

Unlike many more contemporary movies where Toronto may pass for Cincinnati, or Los Angeles suburbs for a western prairie, an Iowa town or a southern farm, this film that is so anchored in Vienna was actually shot in Vienna.  Interiors were done in a studio in England where scenery artists recreated the post-war decay of elaborate apartments and bureaucrat’s offices, and a mock sewer was built in London for some of Orson Welles’ appearances, but most of the film is on location.

And if you want to follow in the footsteps of Holley Martins (Joseph Cotton) as he tries to track down Harry Lime (Orson Welles), several companies in the city of Vienna invite you to do just that.  You can watch the movie, take a walking tour AND go through a 10-room museum all dedicated to The Third Man at Die dritte Mann Tour. (site in English as well as German, as are tours). Or the Vienna Walks tour.

The high point is a tour of the sewers which provide some of the most dramatic footage in the film. If you are concerned about tramping around in underground sewer tunnels, it helps to know that a lot of the movie was shot in tunnels that carry the river underground rather than actually the sewers.

It is even possible, I have read, to ride the giant ferris wheel where Orson Wellesexits with the line he invented,

“Like the fella says, in Italy for 30 years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love – they had 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock..”

Now if you have not seen the movie, this is not making much sense to you, but beyond telling you that the film is delicious and you will recognize the debt many later film makers owe to it, I am not going to tell you the plot and spoil the experience for you.

If, on the other hand, you are quite familiar with the film or with Vienna–obssessed even–then you’ll enjoy this site which shows you most of the Third Man locations.

Sachertorte and cappuccino

But if you have never seen the film, I highly recommend it.  And if you watch closely–you’ll see the Hotel Sacher, where Ken and I enjoyed our late-night dessert “mit schlag.”

We ate so much whipped cream in Austria (at least twice a day) that I figured I would gain ten pounds. However, we spent so much time walking (not running through sewers) that we came home slimmer than when we started.

If you want something to nibble on while you watch your DVD of The Third Man, I recommend this recipe for Ischl Tartlets. Thanks to You Tube for the video, and to Flickr/Creative Commons license for the final two photographs. The Musikverein photo is my own.

Remember that I always appreciate it when you let other people know about A Traveler’s Library. If you appreciate what you read–please spread the word.  And the Share Buttons down below help you do that easily.  Last week a site called Travel Site Critic reviewed us and, well, take a look at what they said, and add your own opinions.

Also read: Review of A Death in Vienna

Not THAT Sound of Music

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Destination: Kansas

Book and Movie: Book: In Cold Blood:A True Account of a Multiple Murder and its Consequences by Truman Capote (1965) and movie, In Cold Blood,  written and directed  by Richard Brooks (1967)

Kansas

The first thing you notice about Kansas is the ordinariness of it. The road rolls over flat land. Ahead a tall rectangle grows larger and larger as you approach a small town with its grain elevator standing sentry along the railroad track–a beat-up red pick-up truck across the street hunkered down in front to the Cafe, paint faded by the uninterrupted wind.

As the grain elevator shrinks in the rear view mirror, another appears on the horizon and your car  counts the rosary of grain elevators as it crosses the state.

That was the view of Kansas that my family and I had each summer as we traveled back and forth across the continent.  To be fair, we did not see some of the prettier parts of the state, and that was in the days before the prairie lands were being restored here and there, but still, Kansas represents “ordinary.”

In 1959, a  flashy, eccentric New York writer, reading about a murder case, saw the irony of a brutal murder in an ordinary American community. Truman Capote wanted to tell the story of the murder of the Clutter family of Holcomb, Kansas as a true crime story.  He wanted to let the people who knew the family, the local law enforcement officers, and finally the perpetrators to become the characters.

His book, In Cold Blood ,  made as much news as the murder. Capote broke new ground with this non-fiction novel, a form that was adopted by others like Norman Mailer and Tom Wolfe, who became known as New Journalists in the following years. I clearly recall the hubbub around the publication of this book, that I could not wait to read. Since literary non-fiction has become a common genre, younger readers are probably wondering what all the fuss was about, but Capote displayed true genius in combining meticulous reporting, extensive use of direct quotation and the depiction of ordinary lives worthy of Greek tragedy. His art came in the arrangement of the revelations, and he occasionally had to make up some details and decide what to leave out.

However, when interviewed by George Plimpton, Capote denied that he departed from truth. “One doesn’t spend almost six years on a book, the point of which is actual accuracy, and then give way to minor distortions.  All of it is reconstructed from the evidence of witnesses.”

Director and Screenwriter Richard Brooks displayed equal genius in converting the book to a black and white “semi-documentary.” He cast actors who physically resembled the real characters. Thank goodness Paul Newman and Robert Redford  were not available. He used relative unknowns Robert Blake as Perry Smith and Scott Wilson as Richard (Dick) Hickcock.

Brooks’ enhanced the reality of the story- telling with music by Quincy Jones, artful cuts that emphasized the parallels in the lives of victims and perpetrators, and judicious use of the most telling details and dialogue from Capote’s book. He is true to Capote’s sympathetic portrayal of the murderers, and we learn more about them than the victims. The main question Capote tried to answer in the book, “How could anyone kill in cold blood?”, reveals emotionally damaged criminals, but also, in the view of the two writers, an ethically questionable state.

Above all, he used light so that it enhances the mood and helps tell the story.  In one scene, Perry Smith, in his cell on death row, remembers his earlier life.   A light comes through the window, illuminating the raindrops rolling down the glass, and reflected on his face. As he tells his story, his whole face seems to weep. Credit for the beautiful lighting goes to cinematographer Conrad Hall.

The movie is set in the actual house, on the roads, in the courthouse, the cafes and the prison where the real scenes took place, and you can see them when you visit Holcomb KS. Even the criminals’ road trip to Mexico and back was filmed on actual locations.

This may not be an example of a movie and a book that make you want to travel, but they do convey the reality of an ordinary state.

Travel Road combined two states in this post recommending road music for Nebraska and Kansas from Music Road. Definitely not as spooky as the sound track for In Cold Blood the movie.  The lovely picture above comes from flicker with a Creative Commons license.

Kansans may not appreciate being labeled “ordinary.”  What are your experiences of Kansas? Were you expecting Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz?

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Kate Nelligan in the title role of 1985 movie Eleni.

Destination: Northern Greece

Book: Eleni by Nicholas Gage

A GUEST POST by Michelle Duffy

Eleni is a story of passions. The passionate love a mother has for her children; the passionate fervor of men and women who take up arms to improve their world; the small passions which we call neighborly disagreements but which, given the right circumstances, can have terrible consequences. It is a story of family and of tradition told against the backdrop of the Second World War, the Cold War and the Greek Civil War. It is a story of immigration told by someone who knows what it was like to be left behind and then later, had to learn how to become an American.

Nicholas Gage starts with the execution of his mother. He tells his own story about his emigration to America and how he felt compelled to tell his mother’s story even from a young age. We learn about his first visit to Greece in 1963 when he realized that he was now a stranger in this village where, just 14 years before, ‘every tree and rock’ had been familiar to him.

We feel the depth of his emotion as he begins to understand that he cannot write his mother’s story from memory, that to tell it well he has to take the reader to Greece to the pre-war years and describe the hardscrabble life of the people in the bare, mountainous villages in the Mourgana mountains on the Albanian border – where his mother grew up. He has to accompany the reader through the war years in that village as the factionalism between the Democratic (EDES) and Communist (ELAS) groups was building even as the country was occupied by the Nazis.

Eleni’s story sets the tempo and emotional depth of the book. Gage skillfully alternates short factual chapters framing this tragic story within the contemporary political situation in Greece and the world. His training an investigative reporter for the New York Times comes out strongly as he maintains his powerful narrative while interspersing references to the people and sources he used to develop the factual basis for the story almost imperceptibly. You will feel the hunger of the children as the deprivations of WW II lift only briefly to be replaced by the harsher and more complicated Civil War. You will cry for the village girls wrenched from their conservative homes to be trained as andartinas – guerrillas. You will ache for the hearts and arms of the mothers whose children were taken in pedomasoma.

Like the British soldiers mentioned in this story, on my first visit to Greece – in 1991 – my expectations were heavily influenced by a “romantic mist distilled from the poetry of Byron and Keats”. Rudely awakened by the hustle and bustle of modern-day Athens, I went looking to learn more about this fascinating country and a family member recommended Eleni. Reading this powerful story has helped me understand Greece at a much deeper level than as a casual tourist, in fact, you might say that it started my love affair with this enigmatic country. I’ve been back to Greece twice since that first visit  and I plan to return many more times if I can.

Michelle Duffy

Michelle blogs as WanderMom and is co-author of Wanderlust and Lipstick: Traveling with Kids. She is currently planning a 15-month round-the-world trip with her family. She is a co-founder of the travel bloggers’ fund-raiser, Passports with Purpose and of BestFamilyTravelAdvice.com.

Michelle is a busy lady, and we are fortunate to have her share one of my own favorite countries, and a book I also found inspiring.  I particularly want to put in a plug for Passports with Purpose. Please check it out. I’ll be participating. Last year we built a school in Cambodia. This year the goal is a whole village in India. Good for the founders, including Michelle!!

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Cuban street scene

Destination: Cuba

Movie: The Buena Vista Social Club,(1998) Director Wim Wenders. Winner of Best Documentary Feature, Academy Award.

Although I blather on here about books and movies that inspire people to travel to places, I can  point to a relatively few that have actually lit a fire in me–given me an obsession. Yes, there have been books and movies that made me want to go somewhere, but  The Buena Vista Social Club was not just a movie, it was an experience.

It captured the fading glory of Havana, the vivacity of the people, the sad decline of a city that once rivaled Las Vegas or Atlantic City as the glamorous vacation spot for Americans who wanted to gamble, drink and find women. (It is said that John F. Kennedy particularly appreciated the latter benefit.)

The story started when musician Ry Cooder visited Havana, and curious about  Cuban music, began asking who wrote this–who made it famous–are they still alive?  One by one he discovered one-time stars of the Cuban music world, some of whom had not performed for a decade or more.

Rubén Gonzáles, an amazing pianist born in 1919, had disappeared from view .  When Cooder sent someone to see Gonzales, he reluctantly came to the studio, but as soon as he saw a piano, he was hooked.  Everyone discovered that his arthritis, which slowed his walking, was not the reason he had not been playing. Gonzales had not owned a piano for ten years. In the narrative with the film’s DVD Wim Wenders says that anywhere he saw a piano, Gonzales would sit down and start playing. “I never saw a musician with such love for his instrument.” Gonzales died in 2003 at 84.

The baby-faced Ibrahim Ferrar,  was working as a shoe shine “boy” when the group located him and he came into the studio to sing some of the songs he had made famous. His impish sense of humor and delight in performing makes him a natural leader. He died in 2005 at age 78.

Another musician, dapper and sexy at 90, in his tropical suit and panama hat Compay Segundo, says on camera that he has five children and is working on his sixth.  Off camera, director Wenders said the challenge was juggling his Segundo’s life with a wife and a mistress–and perhaps another girlfriend on the side. Segundo died in 2003 at age 95.

In The Buena Vista Social Club, Wenders lets each of these and several other of the band members gathered by Ry Cooder, tell the story of their life.  It is a story of a musicians life, with no overt commentary on politics.

Wenders let the camera do the talking, as he shoots in darkened streets with very few streetlights, a guitar factory where few guitars are made any more, the grand old casino building, with the chandeliers and gilt mirrors and bright colors of yesterday visible beneath the dust and peeling plaster of today.  What was once a rich man’s playground now serves children as a gymnasium, and the young ballerinas clustered around the piano as Reuben Gonzales played.

Cuban Taxi

In the commentary, Wenders mentions the fact that the best studio they could find had problems with electricity outages and water pouring in through the ceiling when it rained. And everywhere the narrow streets are lined with vintage American cars, still held together with who-knows-what mechanical ingenuity.

The musicians were nearly unknown in the United States until Ry Cooder determinedly gathered them together.

During the early years of the Revolution, Cuban musicians frequently performed in eastern European countries, but their dream was to go to Carnegie Hall. Seeing them wander the streets of New York City, so blinding with lights, was extremely touching. It was telling that two of them studied figurines in a shop window and recognized Louis Armstrong, but could not place Marilyn Monroe or John F. Kennedy. You could almost see the curtain between the two countries descending in the 1960′s.

Their dream comes true and bits of the performances from Amsterdam and from New York City are included in the film. The film ends back in Havana, where a banner in front of a wrecked building says “The Revolution is Eternal”. And beside crumbling cement walks beside the beautiful seashore, and electricity so undependable that people don’t trust refrigerators, the banner proclaims, “We Believe in Dreams.”

Ken and I were thrilled to be able to see Rubén Gonzáles, Ibrahim Ferrar and Compay Segundo, along with some of the others in person at a concert at the University of Arizona. We bought two recordings, and the next year when a few members of the band returned, we went again to hear them.We are so grateful to Ry Cooder and Wim Wenders for bringing these musicians to our attention.

Now the United States is returning to cautious permission of limited tourism to Cuba,[updated reference Jan 2012 about a Smithsonian tour] that had been curtailed for a few years. Of course, people have been going anyway one way or another. Matador has some good articles about Cuba, including this “How To” article by Julie Schweitert. Like the musicians, (and this ballet troupe) I don’t want to talk about politics, I just want to see this beautiful country and hear more of its music.

The images here are from Flickr, used with a Creative Commons license. Please click on the image to learn about the photographer.

Have you been to Cuba? Have you been waiting for America to make it legal? I realize that this can be a sensitive subject for some people.  Please keep the conversation civil.

This content is a post from: A Traveler's Library To comment on this post or search for related information, click on the link to A Traveler's Library. We'll leave a light on for you.

©2012 A Traveler's Library. All Rights Reserved.